HEY called it their courting bench - where they first fell in love as teenagers.

HEY called it their courting bench - where they first fell in love as teenagers. Now, more than 50 years on, the Wirral couple are taking their first meeting place home.

Grandparents Alan and Yvonne Thompson say they have great memories of chatting side by side on the bench in Talbot Road, Oxton.

And they were delighted to find it was still there on a recent visit to their home town.

So, Alan secretly e-mailed the council asking if he could buy the bench, which had fallen into disrepair.

On hearing their story, council blacksmiths got it restored, and arranged for it to be shipped to the couple's house on the Isle of Man.

Mr Thompson, 71, a retired shipbroker, said: "We both grew up in Oxton and first met each other at a party in 1951. After the party we went to sit on that bench and it became our meeting point.

We kept going back there because it was such a nice spot. I was a young cadet with Clan Line and Yvonne was just 15. I wouldn't see her a lot as I was away at sea, but when I did we would go there.

"When I saw the bench was still in the same place, I thought it would be lovely to have it in our garden. I haven't taken masterclasses in romance, but I knew it would be a great surprise for Yvonne.

"It was in a bit of a state so I asked the council what they did with their old benches and if I could I buy it from them. They told me we could have it and kindly restored it. It is absolutely unbelievable. I can't believe it has got to this stage, but it is lovely."

Mrs Thompson, 68, who married Alan in St Saviour's Church, Oxton, on Valentine's day, 1958, said she was looking forward to getting her bench home.

Mrs Thompson added: "It brings back lots of lovely memories and was a wonderful surprise. It was a lovely gesture from Alan. I really can't believe it. I don't think he realised how big the bench was, but we'll find room for it."

Mrs Thompson, a former secretary, who is recovering from radiotherapy at Clatterbridge Hospital, said she couldn't wait to sit out on her old bench in the back garden.

She added: "I have an area that will be perfect for it. I was going to make it into a nice corner where I could sit and reflect, and now I have another reason to do it."

Mrs Thompson said the couple's two children, Angela, 45, and Jonathan, 40, were delighted.

She added: 'I think they were a bit surprised but thought it was incredible it was actually happening."

After a call from Wirral Council, Geoff Corkish, from the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, agreed to ship the bench back to the couple's home free.

He added: "It was such a lovely tale, and there isn't so much romance around any more. We were only too delighted to bring it back for them. We will make sure it gets to their garden where they can watch the Manx sunsets on their Wirral bench. It will be a little piece of Wirral on the Isle of Man."